I have a 1997 Nissan maxima I bought about a year ago. The drivers side headlight has always had a loose connection, it was easy enough to fix at first, but I want to get it permanetly fixed.
Heres the deal the problem part as I see it is this, and I will try to describe it as best I can. Basically its the part that connects directly to the back of the lightbulb. It has 3 wires going to it, black green and yellow if I recall correctly. If you look at the end that actually plugs into the bulb you see 3 female connections, the outside 2 are in line with each other the middle is a bit higher. My problem is that one of the connections appears to have been damaged, quite possibly due to heat as it looks burnt.
I am wondering if that little part is something I can go to the auto parts store and get and fix myself. I don't have a ton of car knowledge, but if all it requires is sticking the 3 wires back into the right spots, or even splicing the wires together, then I think I can handle it. If it is harder to replace then that, they I will likely take it to the shop. It just looks easy enough that I would rather not waste the money.
Also a potentially related question, it appears the owner before me was using a non stock bulb. It looks exactly liek the original in shape, the only noticeable differance is the bulb has a blue tint to it. I assuem this makes for a whiter light as opposed to yellow, but is it possible that this bulb was drawing too much current and caused the burnout of the peice in above question? I just got done replacing the passengers side bulb witha stock bulb, and now that I see the differance I will likely do the other as well, just trying to figure out if that is the likely cause of the problem or if there is something else that caused it.
One more thing also related to it. As I said I just replaced the passengers side bulb, it is bright and seems to fill the headlight with light even in daylight. Where as the other one, the broken one with the blue tinted bulb seems very dim, you can see the light is on, but it does not fill the headlight with light as the other does. Just wondering if this is because of the bulb or because of the loose connection not giving the bulb th epower it needs to fully illuminate. Thanks for any help you can provide.
Heres the deal the problem part as I see it is this, and I will try to describe it as best I can. Basically its the part that connects directly to the back of the lightbulb. It has 3 wires going to it, black green and yellow if I recall correctly. If you look at the end that actually plugs into the bulb you see 3 female connections, the outside 2 are in line with each other the middle is a bit higher. My problem is that one of the connections appears to have been damaged, quite possibly due to heat as it looks burnt.
I am wondering if that little part is something I can go to the auto parts store and get and fix myself. I don't have a ton of car knowledge, but if all it requires is sticking the 3 wires back into the right spots, or even splicing the wires together, then I think I can handle it. If it is harder to replace then that, they I will likely take it to the shop. It just looks easy enough that I would rather not waste the money.
Also a potentially related question, it appears the owner before me was using a non stock bulb. It looks exactly liek the original in shape, the only noticeable differance is the bulb has a blue tint to it. I assuem this makes for a whiter light as opposed to yellow, but is it possible that this bulb was drawing too much current and caused the burnout of the peice in above question? I just got done replacing the passengers side bulb witha stock bulb, and now that I see the differance I will likely do the other as well, just trying to figure out if that is the likely cause of the problem or if there is something else that caused it.
One more thing also related to it. As I said I just replaced the passengers side bulb, it is bright and seems to fill the headlight with light even in daylight. Where as the other one, the broken one with the blue tinted bulb seems very dim, you can see the light is on, but it does not fill the headlight with light as the other does. Just wondering if this is because of the bulb or because of the loose connection not giving the bulb th epower it needs to fully illuminate. Thanks for any help you can provide.
